BEIJING - In a surprise revelation, it is
now known that before the unfolding North-South
Korea summit in Pyongyang, the two leaders
actually secretly met at the Blue House - the
South Korean presidential office - a few times to
rehearse the historic meeting that is capturing
headlines this week.
In fact, while South
Korean President Roh Moo-hyun was there reciting
his lines, his counterpart was played by a former
Korean National Intelligence Service agent and
professional Kim Jong-il
imposter - not the real "Dear
Leader".
The South Korean media have
speculated for many years about the existence of a
Kim Jong-il double, but the government neither
confirmed nor denied it. That is until the
78-year- old retired secret agent, Kim Sal-sool,
came out of the cold for an interview in South
Korea's Joongang Ilbo newspaper and shared his
experience of "being" the reclusive, shrewd and
eccentric despot.
The story goes back to
the first meeting between Chairman Kim and a South
Korean head of state at the 2000 North-South
summit. At that time, Kim Jong-il was more
mysterious and opaque than today, and then-South
Korean president Kim Dae-jung didn't have a clue
as to how their personalities would play out at
the summit. So, he tested the waters by engaging
in some role playing, courtesy of Kim Dal-sool,
the man reputed to be the world's foremost expert
on Kim Jong-il's personality, according to
Joongang.
During his career with the spy
agency for more than 30 years, Kim Dal-sool spent
a considerable amount of time analyzing Kim
Jong-il's character and quirks. Somewhat like the
movie, Being John Malkovich, he immersed
himself in the mind of Kim Jong-il by undergoing
special training to think, speak and act like the
pompadoured, short North Korean dictator. Kim
Dal-sool was reportedly even able to imitate
subtle facial expressions virtually identical to
those of Chairman Kim.
The former agent
said that while he was on active duty he began his
day by reading Rodong Shinmun, the newspaper of
North Korea's official Worker's Party. He then
proceeded to watch North Korean television. His
job was to completely immerse himself in becoming
Chairman Kim.
"When you maintain such a
kind of daily routine for close to 30 years, you
wake up one day, surprised to realize that you're
'actually' Chairman Kim," the former intelligence
agent said, adding that sometimes he had felt like
a lonely "island" living the life of a North
Korean in South Korea.
Kim Dal-sool
entered South Korea's spy agency in 1961 after
graduating from college. He started his career as
an analyst of North-South negotiations that
involved more than 100 covert meetings of the two
Koreas. In the mid-1990s, he was transferred to a
special department within the spy agency that
collects and analyzes all available information on
North Korea's top leaders. Kim said he was tapped
as a Kim Jong-il double when another agent who had
previously held the position died.
The
former agent believes Kim Jong-il is calculating
and intelligent. "Chairman Kim is very good at
handling people. He is shrewd and skillful. For
example, he may impress you with some pleasant
surprise that you didn't expect, but in the very
next moment, he could suddenly turn very cold and
raise his voice, elevating the tension in the
room. This is Kim's way of taking the upper hand
in a negotiation," he said.
He also
offered some advice to Roh Moo-hyun, who is
currently in Pyongyang meeting with Kim Jong-il.
"Roh is also known as very adept in debate. But if
Roh gets trapped by Kim's tactic, he may end up
returning [to South Korea] without even finishing
up what he planned to say with Kim Jong-il," the
ex-agent said.
He also predicted what Kim
Jong-il is likely to say to the South Korean
president during this week's summit. "It is
possible that Chairman Kim will emphasize the
uriminzokkiri feeling [same ethnic bond] of
the two Koreas and raise the issue of unification.
He may ask about Roh's stance on that matter and
try to steamroller his position."
He was
right on. Although not directly from Kim Jong-il's
mouth, North Korea's second-most senior leader,
Kim Young-nam, on Tuesday said in a welcoming
remark to the South Korean delegation: "We
shouldn't forget that we are the same ethnic
people and should unite together. Herein lies the
prospect of unification and prosperity [of the
Korean peninsula]." Given the fact that all North
Korean speeches are scripted and choreographed by
a central channel, the speech can be seen as a
message from Kim Jong-il himself.
A South
Korean newspaper also voiced concern about the
possibility of Roh being baited by Kim's strategy.
"Roh shouldn't be trapped by Chairman Kim's empty
promises of political pledges," an editorial in
the Segye Times warned.
The former agent
said Roh shouldn't be fazed, and demand from Kim
Jong-il "a resolute decision to give up nuclear
weapons and military-first policy and improve
North Korean people's livelihood".
Kim
Dal-sool didn't confirm whether it was he who
role-played with Roh Moo-hyun for the summit this
time, but added: "To my knowledge, there is still
such an agent within the agency."
Sunny Lee is a writer/journalist
based in Beijing, where he has lived for five
years. A native of South Korea, Lee is a graduate
of Harvard University and Beijing Foreign Studies
University.
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